How hot is to hot?

[Tikkijane]

Evaporative cooler pads (for swamp coolers etc). You can buy they by the roll. Place around part of the run/coop, and wet down. The wind blowing through will cool them down. We have heat tolerant breeds, but it's still hot. We've hit 108 already (and triple digits numerous times) and things are hovering around 100 every day. Lots of different ways to keep them cool; watch them and you'll figure it out.

 

[patandchickens]

Evaporative cooling works real well in the dry SW but not so well at all in the near-100%-humidity parts of the south including the Gulf states where most posters on this thread seem to be from...

Largest possible area of shade; frozen jugs of water; a fan; cool damp earth to dig holes in if they want.

Pat

 

[ima57boomer]

My girls have lots of shady bushes and trees to get under during the hottest part of the day. They love to dig those holes in the dirt and I don't mind a bit. I live on a farm and if that's what they need to do, then ok. The dogs are under those same bushes during the hottest part of the day. All friends, keeping cool. At night, I do run a fan for them, but they don't seem to like or trust the noise it makes. Lots of pots of water in various shady locations around the yard help, too. They will survive. I'm been tempted to put diapers on them and bring them in the air conditioned house though. LOL Ten big chickens might be a bit much.

 

[AlienChick]

Mine love the shade areas underneath the trees and bushes.

I also have a hole dug with soil/dirt in it for dust bathing.

They love laying in the cool dirt in the shad when it's hot, too.

 

[Feeder]

Last saturday temps were high with high humidity I used a big 42" air mover fan the chicks seemed to enjoy it. Inside coop temp was about 90 degrees got in down to about 80 degrees.

 

[tiffanyg2]

I read that somebody on here suggested wetting down the areas they like to go and dust bath in and that way as they dig into it~ it's nice and cool. So every morning I'm sure to hit all those spots real good with the hose! Too hot right now... I can't imagine what July and August will be like

 

[BoltonChicken]

The commercial people use fans, big fans, lots of 'em. Of course they are here in Mississippi and dealing with this heat too, but remember they are packing
in 1 chicken per square foot. I have not seen any misters being used, but remember that humidity holds heat. If you have 'em in shade with dirt under them
and lots of water available they will survive. They have been doing so here for a couple of centuries now.

 

[TheJuan-n-Only]

The way I see it, if those free ranging chickens can make it just fine down in Key West with what feels like 300% humidity and 200 degrees (hehehehe) an open air coop/run that provides shade should be fine! I will be building mine soon it will be on the shade and I'll make sure to provide plenty of water.

In Puerto Rico we have them all over the place free ranging.....and talk about hot and humid!

Just my 2 cents, keep in mind that the last time I had my own chickens I was hmmmm 5 y/o! lol

 

[scooter147]

1. Lot's of fresh drinking water
2. Lot's of shade
3. Access to lot's of drinking water, make sure the water is in the shade. In extreme heat the birds don't want to walk out in the sun to drink plus the water is warm enough to a bath in, who wants to drink that?
4. In the middle of the afternoon I will spray down their favorite spot under the honeysuckle and bamboo. They don't like to get sprayed but will quickly return to these spots once that man with the snake that spits water leaves.

5. I place a fan in the one of the windows of my coop and have it blowing out.
6. Don't stress the birds out. So if your little doggie likes to run the birds through the fence keep him away from the birds.


Other than air conditioning that's about all you can do. It seems to be the older birds say 4 and up that suffer the most. Unfortunately I usually lose at least one hen during the extreme heat and especially during stretches like this in which it reaches the upper 90's with humidity to match for days on end. It never gives the birds a chance to cool down. It's too early for this extreme heat here, it could be a long HOT deadly summer.

 

[buildingmyark]

Great advice, everyone!